Medical Lab Services
Biofilm Testing
GLP Part 58 Compliant | cGMP 210-211 Compliant
Only Moog brings a multi-disciplinary approach and decades of biofilm experience to a broad range of medical device biofilm and anti-microbial testing services.
Biofilms have been identified as the root cause of a number of persistent infectious states including:
- Infections of indwelling medical devices, such as central venous catheters, urinary catheters, and contact lenses.
- Infections associated with reusable medical devices.
- Chronic infections, such as otitis media, recurrent sinusitis, infectious bacterial endocarditis, periodontal disease
Approximately 2 million people each year become infected during a hospital stay in the US. Indwelling devices account for most circulatory and urinary tract infections.
The FDA has acknowledged that biofilm-related diseases are a significant cause of hospital-acquired infections and related deaths in the US. The CDC implicates biofilms in 65% of all hospital-acquired infections.
Biofilm-caused infections are often resistant to current antimicrobial treatments, resulting in significant mortality, extended hospitalization, and higher medical costs.
Understanding Biofilms
Biofilms are organisms living in communities associated with a surface. Biofilms are found in variety of settings, including in chronic infections and on surfaces such as medical devices, industrial pipelines, or other engineered surfaces.
Biofilms are inherently resistant to currently available antimicrobial treatments and to a wide variety of cleaning methods. Worse, biofilms can be difficult to detect on surfaces simply because biofilm organisms do not grow well in traditional laboratory conditions once removed from their original surface. This makes identification of biofilms problematic, often resulting in inappropriate and/or ineffective treatment solutions.
Similarly, biofilm found colonizing the inside surfaces of an iodine-based antiseptic have resulted in infections in a hospital using the antiseptic.
Ethox medical biofilm testing capabilities
Biofilm Enumeration:
- Direct measurement of surface-colonizing organisms
- Total and viable cell enumeration methods on surfaces
Biofilm Challenge Testing
- Antimicrobial and disinfectant challenge testing
- Minimal inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations (MIC/MBC)
- Minimal biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC)
- Materials and coatings challenge testing
- Medical Device challenge testing.
Additional Capabilities
- Biofilm laboratory modeling studies, ranging from in vitro test methods to in vivo animal models, providing a comprehensive testing service
- ASTM biofilm standardized test methods E 2196 – 07 and E 2562 – 07
- Custom imaging services including SEM and AFM, as well as traditional microscopy
- Support for customer defined tests and methods
- Consultation
Our Experience
Moog brings together scientists with a cumulative 50+ years of experience in working with biofilms, both in laboratory and in industrial settings. Our wide breadth of knowledge provides solutions to our customers dealing with biofilm-mediated problems.
Moog has on staff four scientists with extensive experience in biofilm detection and control. Further, Moog is a member of the Center for Biofilm Engineering at Montana State University at Bozeman. The Center has spearheaded efforts to standardize biofilm testing methods with the FDA, EPA and ASTM.
Our scientists sit on ASTM committee E35, which sets biofilm testing standards.
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